Category Archives: Uncategorized

I still haven’t really completed many games in 2017. I was going to avoid Super Mario Odyssey until I’d beaten Galaxy and Galaxy 2, but that didn’t happen. (I got to the credits in Odyssey, though so that’s OK. Maybe.)

I think NOW would be a good time to STOP buying games, for the last time. 😉

The romp through the story of Odyssey was great, and I definitely agree with the majority of reviews. The game is brilliant! I think it’ll now take its place as a 15 minute game whenever the urge strikes, complete some more mini games, go find some more power moons… The photo mode is really good, btw…

Odyssey’s story took about 12 hours, over 3 gaming sessions. It pretty much consumed me last week.

On the Switch front, I also got myself heartily addicted to Stardew Valley in the last month. Welp, this game does ‘one more day’ perfectly. 25 hours later, and I am just about to start Year 2.

I really need to play some of my ‘other’ switch games such as Disgaea 5, and I am Setsuna… but I think November might be the month of short 3DS games from my backlog. I am pretty close to beating (the first half, anyway) of Pokemon Silver.

The Nintendo Switch doesn’t have an Activity Log built into it like those found on the 3DS or the Wii U. However, if you download the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app which is available for Android and iOS then you will be able to get a list of what games you’ve been playing.

It’s a shame there isn’t just a normal activity log… but this will have to do…

Nintendo Switch Parental Controls App on iOS

The app is designed for parents to be able to limit their children’s playtime but you can disable all of that and just use it for the Activity Log goodness.

On thing to note, you will need the Parental Control PIN occasionally… changing Wifi settings, to log into social accounts for sharing and stuff like that. The PIN is emailed to you and you can find it in the app, so you shouldn’t lose it!

Update (Tues 7th March)

On your profile (click your icon in the top left corner of the home screen) you can see how long you’ve played a game for (for up to 100 hours..)

It turns out to be pretty hard to get motivated without concrete goals. I’ve spent the last year yoyo-ing on ‘getting healthy’ and never actually doing anything much about it. For a while after I moved, I even had two gym memberships (I used neither, though.)

I can’t ride a bike around anymore like when I lived at home – I don’t have a bike or anywhere to store one. That summer I did though (just before Uni) I ended up weighing the lightest I’ve even been. I want to be somewhere around there again.

For 2017, I figured I should try something a bit different! So, I’ve booked myself on two Half Tough Mudders! One in May (four months from now) and the other in September (eight months from now).

So now I have a gym membership again, and some vision of where I want to be in 132 days.

GOALS – you should have some!

So, how the fuck am I going to do this??

Eating considerably heathier / log most of my meals on an App

I am still undecided about what to do when I travel – 2/3 days a week on average away from home!

The eating at restaurants ruins me! The lack of any form of kitchen except a kettle (usually) makes this problematic.

Drinking much less than I currently do – Untappd says I’ve checked 90 beers in the last 90 days. Too many!

Exercising

Obviously for Tough Mudder I need to be able to run/jog 5 miles, and haul my fat self over walls and shit. Therefore, I need to be able to actually run (ha!) and to actually gain some upper body strength. Losing some weight between now and May would likely be beneficial too.

Aiming to go 1-3 times a week (obviously more difficult when I am away for extended periods of time!)

All my diet wins and fails will be logged on Myfitnesspal, all my exercise related escapades will be on Runkeeper, and my weight will be tracked by Apple Health. I’ll post an update in February (not that anyone actually cares except me:))

If anyone wants to send me a friend request on any of the mentioned services, leave a comment!

We left on the West Highland line for a short two hour run to Mallaig, this line has apparently been voted one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world.

Fort William to Mallaig: 41 miles (Running total: 683 miles)

We passed the Glenfinnan Viaduct which you might remember featuring in the Harry Potter movies, and were shortly in Mallaig; a small coastal ferry port on the west coast of the Highlands.

After a brief stop at the B&B, we found the lifeboat and the two pubs. My 100th beer on Untapped was actually in Mallaig.. Tennent’s Lager at The Steam Inn! Probably could of made a better choice for the 100th, but nevermind now.

Early to rise the next day, we got the 6.02 to Glasgow Queen Street and settled in for the six hour journey. Along the way, we saw the highest station on the network (it’s also 10 miles from the nearest public road) and lots and lots of mountains. It was the prettiest of all of journeys all week.

Mallaig to Glasgow Queen Street: 161 miles (Running total: 844 miles)

The view from the train!

We got the Glasgow and found the obligatory Spoons for lunch then headed to [Central Station for our tour] we’d booked weeks before. I highly recommend the tour if you ever find yourself in Glasgow as the guide (a former station manager) is full of knowledge and excitement about the station and it’s history of the last century. The story about the fish and chip shop was a highlight, but you’ll have to go and do the tour yourself to hear it!

Appearing out of a side corridor behind the ticket barriers was amusing, and confused the commuters who we emerged into. I imagine they were considering just why we were wearing hivis and orange caps!

Thirteen quid might seem a bit steep, but no. Just do it. Paul makes it well worth it, he doesn’t have [771+ 5 Star reviews on TripAdvisor] for nothing!

The next stop on our adventure was Edinburgh, and the final night of our holiday. We checked in, and started exploring. I took us back to The Boozy Cow for dinner (I went last year when I was in Edinburgh last) and it was just as good as I remembered. Afterwards, we found a cocktail bar called Panda and Sons. Worth a visit!

We arrived at Glasgow on Saturday morning, the flight was fine (the breakfast not…) and headed into Glasgow city to get our train onwards. We travelled on a rover ticket which was pretty cool in itself, £118 for 8 days of travel within 15 days which I’ll talk about in the next blog post.

Glasgow Queen Street to Aberdeen: 155 miles (Running total 155 miles)

Aberdeen was our first destination, Brewdog Brewery our goal. The train to Aberdeen was uneventful, we found our hotel and went to find the bus to Ellon.

The bus that greeted us was fairly fancy; a coach with USB ports and reclining seats! It was a comfy ride to Ellon.

Brewdog was a short walk away from the bus stop but it was pissing it down so felt like an age. But once we got there… It was awesome.

Good people drink good beer!

Beer tasters

The next day we headed to Inverness. It snowed a bit, but nothing major. In fact, it was the most snow we saw all week.

Before we left for Inverness we had something to do… Find the RNLI Lifeboat which Laurence actually started the wiki page for…

I didn’t actually get a photo of the boat, but I did take this cool timelapse. Laurence probably has some video from his GoPro he hasn’t bothered to watch since.

Aberdeen Station

River Ness, Inverness

Aberdeen to Inverness: 108 miles (Running total: 263 miles)

We didn’t do much in Inverness; looked for cheap GoPro accessories for Laurence and found somewhere to drink. We didn’t find any accessories that weren’t fifty quid, but we did find a Wetherspoons so not all bad.

Inverness to Wick: 161 miles (Running Total: 424 miles)

Onwards to the far north of Scotland. We got a 7am train to Wick/Thurso the next day. It was fairly desolate and remote, but Wick bigger than we were both expecting. I think we’ve now frequented the most northerly branch of Wetherspoons in the UK.

We got the bus to John o Groats and think we were pretty much the only tourists around this early in March. Everyone else on the bus had their shopping..

Fun fact.. John o Groats is not the most northerly point of the mainland UK. That is nearby Dunnet Head.

Anyway, we’ve done John o Groats! Ten minutes of taking photos of the sign, and an 1 hour 50 minutes waiting for the next bus.. Hmm. Anyway, we got to Thurso late afternoon and checked in to our hotel for the night.

There was nothing to do in Thurso. We had a pint in the hotel bar and went for a wander. We literally didn’t find a single pub, and ended up having dinner at a local Chinese restaurant.

We got the first train out the next morning back to Inverness along the line we were on the day before where we stopped for lunch, and caught the coach to Fort William.

Thurso to Fort William: 218 miles including the coach (Running total: 642 miles)

Fort William Station

This day was the longest of the lot. We found a Wetherspoons in Fort William and stayed for a while…

In the next post I’ll write about the scenic railway to Mallaig; and our trip to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Read it here.

So for November I think I’m going to make some small changes to my daily routines. I’ll walk my two dogs more often that I do now (rarely), I’ll walk to the bus station from uni rather than getting a bus to get a bus, and I’m going to cut down on my caffeine and sugar intake drastically. I might even dust of the Kinect sat downstairs gathering dust; but baby steps first!